Orange Marmalade Cupcakes

I wasn't sure if I should title this post as Cupcakes or Muffins. When I was a little kid, I only knew of cupcakes - we got these cupcakes in a pack of six, in our local bakeries and I don't think even they had heard the term muffins. When I read Enid Blyton's books, they always had a grandma making scones, cupcakes and tea...

It was only when the more fancy looking cafes and bakeries opened in Bangalore, that I heard of, saw and tasted muffins. They looked like oversized and slightly dense cupcakes. I liked them and didn't worry so much about what it was called.
Today, I tried looking up for differences between cupcakes and muffins, and saw some informational and some funny comments on this post here on the Cupcake Project Check it out...



There was this one comment that said "If you throw a cupcake against a wall it will make a 'POOF' sound. However, if you did the same with a muffin it would make more of a 'THUD' sound"
There was no way I was going to throw mine against a wall, but I am pretty sure, going by how soft these were, there would be no 'THUD' ! So, here are my orange marmalade cupcakes...



I had this bottle of locally made orange marmalade sitting in my fridge, for a couple of months now, the sugar in it had crystallized and it just didn't look that appetizing any more. There was no way I would let it go waste and decided to use it in cupcakes

When I bake, I am still very apprehensive about experimenting, I always stick to a recipe. This time around I read a lot of recipes, but wanted to keep these eggless, so did my substitutions of banana, baking soda and curds and it turned out really soft and 'poofy'. They had a beautiful flavour of the marmalade and the banana wasn't overpowering it. If you don't like bananas, you can use apple instead, actually any fruit puree should work...

"When your wife is younger, you called her cupcake. When she is older with a double chin, you call her muffin"

Orange Marmalade Cupcakes
This makes 12 cupcakes

What you need -

1.5 cups APF / maida
3-4 tbsp orange marmalade
1 banana
3/4 cup plain yoghurt / curd
1.5 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp oil (I used safflower)
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

What you do with it -

In a bowl, mix the maida, baking powder and baking soda and set aside
Blend the banana with the curd to a smooth paste and transfer to a large bowl
Add the oil and milk to the banana mixture
Add the marmalade to this and mix well
Stir the maida into the large bowl and mix
Check to taste the sweetness. Mine needed a slight sweetness, so I added 1.5 tbsp sugar. You may need more or less depending on how sweet you like it
Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C
Line a muffin pan with the paper cups and grease the paper cups
Pour in the batter to 3/4th of the level
Bake at 180 deg C for 20 mins or till done
Cool for 5 mins and then enjoy the cupcakes with a cup of tea